For those of you interested at all in even more of my inane prattling, I have recently done an interview with a certain Mr. Timothy London for his blog, which can be read here.  The interview itself was about a less cynical music industry, and I am not entirely sure I really made a great case in its favour, with some really very cynical remarks indeed.  Still, I tried to answer the questions themselves as honestly and intelligently as I could, so hopefully that counts for something!

This weekend I was down in Macclesfield for Unconvention, a day of seminars, workshops and general chats about the future of music and ways in which we can best try and generate awareness and success on a minimal budget using the myriad weird and wonderful tools the modern world has given us.  It was a really good day, and I heard some very interesting things, and also managed to make a tit of myself at the Managers Are The New Labels panel I was on.

The Scottish habit for constant and furious self-deprecation got a little lost in translation with all the English attendees, so everyone in the workshop got the rather unfortunate impression that I was really down on myself about what we’ve achieved with Song, by Toad and how qualified I may or may not be to be in the music industry and what I do or do not bring to the bands we work with.  After a particular rush of sympathy (“Noooo, it sounds like you’re doing an incredible job”) I did get close to pointing out to them that self-confidence really wasn’t an issue here, it’s just the way you learn to express yourself in Scotland and don’t worry I am well aware of how much we’ve achieved in the last couple of years just that you always have to be aware of how much there still is to achieve and honestly it just doesn’t do to sound even slightly boasty in Scotland but honestly I’m fine don’t worry.  But that might have made matters worse, so I just dropped it.

Iggy Pop – The Passenger

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Monday 10th May 2010: Langhorne Slim at Sneaky Pete’s.

Monsieur Slim is not only great live, Sean Scolnick is a fucking lovely bloke as well.  I know Monday is a shite night to go out, but honestly this will be worth it.  He swings the pace from the mournful ballad to stomping Americana in the drop of a hat, and there are few better voices out there at the moment, in my opinion.

Langhorne Slim – Sunday by the Sea

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

My personal pick of the Tigerfest gigs this week would be twofold:

Wednesday 12th May 2010: Jesus H. Foxx & There Will be Fireworks at Electric Circus.

There Will Be Fireworks managed to sell over a thousand of their debut album pretty much on their own and without much press, which I can promise you is no mean achievement. Their Twilight-Frabbitry will be complemented by the emergence, blinking, into the light of Jesus H. Foxx who have been hiding away in some secret Foxxcave somewhere working on their debut album.

Thursday 13th May 2010: 17 Seconds presents Chris Bradley, The Dirty Cuts & The Last Battle at the Roxy Room.

17 Seconds Records’ newest signings The Last Battle join a couple of their more established acts downstairs at the Roxy.  Their debut album should be upon us very soon, so keep an eye out for that.

The Last Battle – Soul of the Sea (Live on FreshAir)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Friday 14th May 2010: We Were Promised Jetpacks & Three Blind Wolves (both solo acoustic) play the This is Music 4th Birthday celebrations at Sneaky Pete’s.

You wouldn’t necessarily think that quiet acoustic stuff would work all that well at a clubby sort of place like Sneaky’s but it actually does – I’ve seen some really good acoustic stuff there in the past.  This is the latest in a series of gigs marking the fourth birthday

Saturday 15th May 2010: Thomas Truax, 7VWWVW, Wounded Knee & The Blue Wicked Spasm Band at the Roxy Art House.

Stuffs

Saturday 15th May 2010: Conquering Animal Sound, Dead Boy Robotics & Adam Stafford play Trampoline at the Wee Red Bar.

It’s an odd lineup, this one, although in a funny sense I can actually see it working quite well.  Adam Stafford will presumably be playing an acoustic set, and Dead Boy Robotics have just launched an EP of thumping, dirty disco(ish) tunes.  Add that to the strange, shy, loopy experimentalism of Conquering Animal Sound and you certainly have an eclectic lineup, but one which I think will actually work quite well.

Sunday 16th May 2010: Hauschka, James Blackshaw & Nancy Elizabeth at the Roxy Room.

Fatcat Records, innovative composer, plays lots of piano.  Those are about all the facts I have about this one, but I have to get this published before my lunchtime internet window here at Proper Job slams shut, so I am afraid I don’t have the time to find out anything more helpful for you.  There’s always the links above though, and you’re not children, so I’m sure you’ll be fine.

Well the mammoth video nightmare of the last week is nearly over.  This week I will be working in the Meursault tour diary from when they went away to the North of England for a few days in our big green van.  They recorded some excellent sessions while they were touring, including three songs in the back of the van from some campsite in, erm, Lancashire somewhere I think, and also a few songs at a bandstand in Newcastle.  The tour diary itself might just be mental, and but for some judicial editing could easily become the most offensive musical document ever recorded (thank you Fraser, Preston’s a bit ‘rapey’ is it?) so I hope I can get it trimmed down to something vaguely family friendly before I go away.

Here’s a preview for those of you who are interested – this is a version of a new song called Sleet, as played in the Newcastle bandstand to an appreciative audience of a great many birds, and no, not the kind your average rock star aspires to have in his audience either:

As you know, Mrs. Toad and I are off in Italy for a couple of weeks from this coming Saturday and in our absence the splendid Three Toadsketeers of Dylan, Bart and Euan have agreed to take over the Good Ship Toad.  I will be enforcing a strict regime of alcoholism and offending vegetarians, so it should hopefully not be too far from the sort of unprofessional garbage you’re used to around here.  But I owe them all a massive thank you for taking this on, because I think it will be much nicer for everyone than just leaving it quiet for two weeks.

So, before I bugger off, what will I be attending?  Some of these things, I suspect:

Monday 8th June 2009: Cherbourg at Sneaky Pete’s.

Formerly Davie Fiddle and tour-mates of Mumford & Sons, these chaps play a very English-sounding indie folk.  If anything, actually, it harks back more to the folk rock of the late 80s and early 90s rather than the more glacial stuff of the last couple of years.
Cherbourg – Man

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Tuesday 9th June 2009: Withered Hand, Benni Hemm Hemm, Ish Marquez & Emily Scott at Electric Circus (map here).

This is the official launch for the EP Withered Hand recorded with King Creosote earlier this year.  He’s currently working on an album, which is almost through the mixing process and vaguely pencilled in for release in August or September this year, I believe.  The album is a full band job, but this EP is a much more acoustic, and the lineup for the launch party is nothing if not eclectic.  Incidentally, I filmed a couple of songs by Emily Scott at Homegame but she still hasn’t got back to me to tell me what they’re called.  They can be viewed here and here if anyone can supply me with the missing information!
Withered Hand – Shooby (Demo)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Wednesday 10th June 2009: Cheveu & White Heath at the Bowery.

Cheveu are French and a little bit mental from the sounds of it.  Still, this kind of, erm, noisy, crackly post-stuff music should make for a good evening.  I hesitate to imagine what it might sound like live, but I think this is one of those gigs where you just have to turn up and see what the hell you get.  Support comes from the very promising White Heath, making what is I believe their Bowery debut.
Cheveu – Like a Deer in the Headlights

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Thursday 11th June 2009: Woodenbox with a Fistful of Fivers, The Kays Lavelle & Kristoffer Morgan at Sneaky Pete’s.

Woodenbox are a terrific live band, who have been working on some new recordings recently – as, incidentally, have the Kays Lavelle.  The former play stomping Americana, full of brass and rhythm, and the latter play piano-led indie ballads, which cross over into that sort of post-rock atmospheric aesthetic from time to time.  And both bands now share a piano player, as far as I am aware.  Kristoffer Morgan is a bit of a mystery to me, I must confess, this being the first time I think I’ve seen his name on a bill in these parts.
Woodenbox – Situations (I think this was recorded before the addition of the Fivers)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Friday 12th June 2009: 7VWWVW, Albaross, Kyon & Spells Tower play This is Music at Sneaky Pete’s.

This is a crossover night between the ever-excellent This is Music characters and Crystal Wish Records, with a lineup full of bands I’ve never heard of.  Crystal Wish appear to be pretty electronically and experimentally orientated though, and these are always great nights, so I’d definitely recommend popping along.  This is Music generally do a podcast as well, in advance of their night, and that will appear here at some point in the next week, I assume.

Saturday 13th June 2009: Meursault, Wounded Knee & The Foundling Wheel play Trampoline at the Wee Red Bar.

I don’t really know what to expect from this gig.  The Foundling Wheel and Wounded Knee are a little more experimental than Meursault tend to be most of the time, but Meursault have been slipping some new material into their recent Edinburgh gigs and they definitely have it in them to be a little weird from time to time, so this might well be a bit of a treat for everyone.  If you like your music a little off the beaten track, that is.
The Foundling Wheel – Out to See

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Saturday 13th June 2009: Diane Cluck & Mary Hampton at the Bowery.

Diane Cluck is an (anit-)folk legend, so I really wouldn’t miss this if I were you.  Unless you’re going to the Wee Red, because I wouldn’t miss that either.  Thank fuck I’m not here to have to make this terrible decision!
Diane Cluck – Save Me

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Phew, and I thought it was going to be a quick on this week!

It’s an unusually busy Monday this week, for some reason. Normally even one gig on a Monday would be midly unusual, but this week there would have been three, but for Come On Gang having to cancel their show a the Wee Red Bar relatively late last week.

Monday 13th October: Anni Rossi at Henry’s Cellar Bar.
I know about Anni Rossi from listening to The Waiting Room, presented by DC, one of the regulars here. Personally I am somewhat ambivalent about her – there’s a lot to enjoy, but some of the Bjorkish yelping means I do sometimes have my doubts. It’s all about proportions with these things though, so as long as it doesn’t overwhelm the music it might be no problem at all.
Anni Rossi – Wheelpusher

Monday 13th October: My Kappa Roots at Cabaret Voltaire.
My Kappa Roots used to be a staple of Tracer Trails lineups, back when the prettiest posters in town were yet to be retired. Pablo has moved through to Glasgow now, making an appearance in the capital all the more rare, so this gig might be the only chance I get to seem him play for a while.
My Kappa Roots – The Lord of Rosyth

Friday 17th October: Hot Club de Paris at Cabaret Voltaire.
I’ve never been entirely convinced by these guys on record, but live was how I first saw them and they were excellent – they were chirpy, witty and the music was much more arresting – so it might well be worth popping along to this.
Hot Club de Paris – This Thing Forever (Live on Welcome to Our TV Show)

Saturday 18th October: 7VWWVW play Trampoline at the Wee Red Bar.
Mammal set film-makers Super8Super8 the challenge of creating short films to run alongside three of their songs. So there will be multiple Super 8 projectors, apparently, and as Mammal perform three short live sets, the films will play. Sounds bloody intriguing if you ask me, and nice to see Trampoline mixing up the media a bit, which is something they have been keen to do for a while.
7VWWVW – SingerSongwriter